Love is Mystical: Intro

===> COH <===> 2/9/2020, 7:45:47 PM <===

A supernatural plan
Is coming to meet me now
Living life with no need for the brakes
Something happens when I lean on my mistakes
Love is mystical
Love will break the chains

LOVE IS MYSTICAL - COLD WAR KIDS

THE STORY SO FAR...

The dhampyr known as Thomas "MoGui" Hu has lived an interesting life across interesting times! Now, one of the mistakes from his colorful past has come back to haunt him. LITERALLY.

A wraith claiming to be the spirit of the vampiric necromancer known as the Ouroboros has appeared to MoGui with a desperate plea for help - one of the Yama Kings has captured the Avatar of the Fenghuang, also known as the Imperial Phoenix, that last manifested in the form of the Ouroboros' one-time lover, Orson Wendol of the Akashayana Sangha. The Avatar must be freed from the Yama King's clutches before it is consumed and lost forever, or worse!

MoGui needs help to repay the debt that he owes his former comrades, for this task is beyond his ability to tackle alone. He will turn to those that he has come to know, as well as risk setting word aloft on umbral winds in hopes of finding intrepid stalwarts to see that Love triumphs over Darkness.

AND NOW OUR STORY BEGINS! ...

	Mo had a bit of business that required help of the extraordinary and/or supernatural sorts! As such? He had reached out to folks for help. Folks could caravan down to the Port of Ensenada with him if they wanted, or get to the final destination on their own steam, as they liked. Said final destination? ISLA TODOS SANTOS, an abandoned island off of All Saints Bay. There were rumors it was haunted, and locals steered clear of it. But the truth? The truth was much more messy and complex.

	Ying Yue is dressed rather casually, as they are still in public. The young woman seems willing to work with MoGui again, as it seems that it leads to dealing with spirits, and that's what she tends to do.

Tian was picked up by Mo after Tian showed great martial ability and the much rarer ability to see and talk to things unseen. He seems to be the quiet sort tending to react to situations and conversations than one that would start them. He is simply dressed and carries a 5'2" wooden staff made of dense heavy oak.

	The ride to Ensenada would be uneventful. While some may have expected some sort of trouble, given Mo's tainted joss, there would be none. None at all. It was as if things were interceding to make the party's journey easy and uneventful. Once they got to the port, there would be a small ship waiting there.

	Mo ushers everyone off the van, and onto the boat. "Last chance for second thoughts and cold feet!"

	Ying Yue would likely have got a ride down, as she's not overly familiar with the land around here, and it is even harder to navigate where she would have to travel. The white-haired woman doesn't seem comfortable during the ride, which results in her remaining quiet, not that she is that loud to begin with. She ties her hair back as she moves to the boat, as the coastal wind tends to play havoc with it.

	"Isla Todos Santos is where the wan kuei of the Quincunx had set up a forward operating site," explains Mo. "There's a small dragon nest there, that I can use to drop the Wall so we can all walk through to the other side."

	"Once we cross, Fatima will meet us and guide us the rest of the way. I didn't ask which hell lord is holding Orson's avatar hostage, because. Well. We'll be dealing with an intermediary anyway, at least to start." Ah, Mo. Always flying by the seat of his pants!

Tian nods to that, such a thing not seeming to phase him at all. He asks, "You trust your guides to get you in and out?"

	"Fatima - she's. Well, she's interesting. But one thing that I know beyond a doubt? She /loves/ Orson. They've loved each other over and over and over, in all of their incarnations. Until she took herself out of the cycle and ..." Mo shrugs.

	"The Yomi Wan can be a confusing place - bits of Yang, bits of Yin, but. Mr. Fu can guide us back if things go south with Fatima." And then? The tiny azure dragon materializes!

Tian nods at that. A small breeze pulls at his clothes like it is trying to hold him back. Tian seems to pay no attention to it. Tian looks at the dragon and offers a small nod of his head, eyes kept on the dragon.

	Mr. Fu, a tiny azure chinese dragon, looks to Tian, then to Ying Yue. Clearing his throat he nods and fleshes out the background:

"Originally, the Yomi Wan were simply the private domains of the Yama Kings - at the beginning of time, the Yama Kings were purifiers and redeemers, necessary jailors who obeyed the August Personage of Jade. As such, they had their own pocket dimensions where they enacted their necessary, if unpleasant, duties.

As the Yama Kings fell into corruption, they carved spiritual lebensraum out of the Yin World and Yang World. These stolen dimensions were crudely welded together by the Yama Kings, resulting in visible scars throughout Yomi Wan.

This dimension is a crazy-quilt domain; each Yama King claims some space as their own personal Hell. Most hells are Yin- or Yang-aspected, a function of their Yama King and original territory, but there are visible scars throughout the realms - unstable fluxes in reality that occasionally move, wreaking havoc everywhere they go. The Yama Kings war over territory on a regular basis, usually by claiming each others domains for their own. As a result, Yomi Wan is unstable and in a perpetual state of flux.

The domains of each Yama King differ widely but are connected in some fashion, one could theoretically walk from Kakuri to the Wicked City, however the active interest (and knives) of the Yama Kings prevents this from happening easily. Similarly, there are passages to the Yin and Yang Worlds, but traversing them is insanely difficult."

	Mo sighs as Mr. Fu offers sobering details. The little dragon that served as Mo's Spirit Guide was sagacious like that. Between the dragon's wet-blanketism and Mo's reckless enthusiasm, a happy medium could be found! Mo looks to Tian, then to Jiang to see if they were having second thoughts yet.

	Meanwhile, the boatride was also uneventful! A large ship was escorting them towards Isla Todos Santos, with crew that wore masks, dressed in black. And armed. Mo, he ran with strange company!

	Ying Yue listens to the small dragon, enjoying the story maybe, as she like picking up on the background that she doesn't know fully about. For the most part she has her eyes out to the water, sort of lost in thought. But it's not easy to read the woman, her mind doesn't exactly work like most.

Tian seems steadfast and nods, "I will admit that I have never crossed over into these lands." He tilts his head a little as if listening to something, then takes in a deep smell and nods to himself.

	Eventually? The ship that's escorting them to the island will veer off once they are near. Some places, even the undead dared not tread. Isla Todos Santos? Was one such place. Mo offers a wave of thanks to the mystery ship, and then the boat the party is on is making landfall!

	Mo drops anchor, literally, and then gestures at a rowboat. "All aboard!" The rowboat looks a little leaky, but largely seaworthy. Assuming everyone hopped aboard, Mo would do the heavy lifting and row folks to shore.

Tian gets into the boat without question. He says to Mo, "I can row, if you would like."

	Mo looks to Tian, "I'm good. Save your strength for the journey." Mo is possessed of supernatural stamina and strength, and makes quick work of the journey to shore. The rowboat lodges up onto the beach and Mo hops out. Then he looks around and calls out for Kaati. "KAATI!!! OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE!"

	Ying Yue takes the offer of the ride, and doesn't mind the rickety boat, after all, swimming is one of the things that she does very well, though it seems that she doesn't need to today. She exits the boat when the others do and takes a look around, seeing what is about in the many different realities that her eyes can pick up.

	The dhampyr checks his GPS doohickey and frowns. "Ugh. I /hate/ these things," he grumbles, before tossing it over a shoulder and letting it hit the sand. Then he pulls out a luopan from a pocket - a golden compass looking type device. A smile brightens his face - "This is more like it! Everyone fall in!"

	Must have been a weird wave. The boat dips ever-so-slightly as an obfuscated Alzbeta steps in.

	On the other side, Kaati sits crosslegged in a makeshift circle, traced in the sand. There's a small circle at the center, and a hawk circles overhead. The Dreamspeaker sits crosslegged, her gaze distant. The Gauntlet is thin, and no doubt the dhampyr's efforts will thin it further. The hawk cries out, and Mogui will hear him: We are here, waiting.

Tian points over at Kaati, "Is that the one you are calling for?" He tilts his head to the side a little, sniffs the air, and then shakes his head.

	Mo looks up , then around. Then Mo's luopan spins a bit before settling on on a course. "This way!" And then Mo is pushing forward away from the beach and through the dense island foliage and towards what will eventually reveal itself in a small clearing as a dragon nest-node-place of power, etc! Apparently? A (very) small temple has been erected out here, on a small island in the middle of nowhere. But the eldritch power is palpable, albeit faint.

	Umbraside: Kaati rises and scuffs sand over the fire, then slings on the messenger bag and the rifle before following as best she can, navigating the occasional discrepancies between landscapes with flickers of distortion.

	Mo motions for everyone to gather near the makeshift temple. There's an arch that's been constructed, and looks like more care has been taken for it than for the rest of the place. He looks to Fu - "What sorta chi does the door demand?"

	Mr. Fu eyes the arch, tasting the air. Eldritch energies spark along the tny azure dragon's body. Finally, he speaks, his voice like thunder! "Yin Chi!" For a small dragon, he can really let it boom!

	Mo nods, and then draws upon his mystical reserves, offering up the requisite sacrifice before attempting to work some "Mo-jo". "Here goes nothin'" he mutters.

	Alzbeta follows along, still obfuscated. She'll give Kaati a few looks, but doesn't actually interact with her, as she herself is not in the umbra. She looks to Tian, who she does not recognize.

	Mo growls, as he struggles to harness his joss. "Fuck," he mutters, sweat beading on his forehead.

	Ying Yue would probably have no problem moving through the gauntlet in to the umbra, but in cases like this, she prefers to let someone lead. It's not that she would get lost in there, but she would likely wander off after something that caught her interest on the other side.

	Kaati gives Mo a genuine smile. "Nicely done," she offers.

	Mo uses his hands to fashion mudras! He'll use the arcane gestures to literally reshape the static reality around the dragon nest, until finally? The curtain falls away,and all realities are one! The dhampyr staggers back and slump down onto the ground, even as Mr. Fu takes flight and looks around. "Where's Fatima?" asks the dragon spirit.

	In the Umbra, Alzbeta does what she does best. Suddenly appearing in a very unnerving way. Crouching down behind Kaati, Alzbeta puts her hand on Kaati's shoulder. With a kinda hang-dog expression that shows she's really, really, really sorry, Alzbeta says, "Hey. Sorry about the other night. I get a little weird when the moon is full and I'm hungry. I'm sure you know how it is. Are we still friends." Alzbeta gives Kaati a big toothy grin as she waits expectantly for an answer.

Tian holds out his right hand as if he thought he could feel the magic or something. He looks over to Mo as he seems be be concentrating and doing his Mojo. He then follows through the gauntlet as if such a thing was done as one would walk through a door, a difficult task made easy and graceful. He looks over as Alzbeta appears, sniffs the air, and nods a little. He smiles softly and offers a nod to the pair, "I am Shang Tian."

	While the newly re-grouped party of companions re-acquaint themselves, Mr. Fu takes flight to join Kaati's Hawk, hoping that the two of them together can locate the wraith they're supposed to meet here.

Kaati whirls on Alzbeta, her eyes sharp. "Only if you *never*. EVER. do that again."

	Alzbeta withdraws her hand from Kaati's shoulder. Her big grin becomes a meek little expression. "Sorry," Alzbeta says. "I forget that some people don't like to be touched. I guess hugging it out is out of the question? Anyway, I'm glad we're friends again." Alzbeta then stands up, but she's still way below most everyone. She's quite lil. Giving a big wave to Tian, she says, "Hi Shaggy! I'm Alzbeta la Hafiza, Ashen Priestess of Sand and Ash, and, yeah, I know, I know, it says Ash twice. I'm not happy with it either, no matter what Spot says about it being 'alliterative,' which I don't think it actually is, more just repetitive." Alzbeta then looks to Kaati, "Remember, buddy system." She gives Kaati a goofy smile, before adding, "buddy ..."

	When Ying Yue comes through, she seems wary, as if she is expecting something to jump out at her. Alzbeta gets turned on, but she's not impulsive enough to lash out at the unknown. She glances to Tian and gives a small nod, but doesn't introduce herself yet. New people always make her a little hesitant to share things like her name.

	Mr. Fu relays Fatima's description to the Hawk-spirit. "She was a woman of extraordinary beauty. SNow white skin shrouded within a cowled cloak of night." A pause as the tiny dragon considers. "Oh, and a maw full of razor sharp teeth."

	Mo slowly rises up from the floor of the tropical jungle, looking at the gate. Then he looks to Kaati, and smiles. "Thanks. But now that you're here, lemme see if I can make it easier for you to help us, yes?" The youth trudges over towards the Dreamspeaker.

	Kaati tips her head. "Like last time? Sure, yeah."

	There will be a flux on the other side of the arch - like a puckering of reality! Then a nihil forms more fully, and out of it comes the aforementioned Fatima! Looking, more or less, just as Mr. Fu described.

	Fatima steps through the archway, and looks around. Her eyes are as wholly dark as the nihil from which she sprung - no whites to them at all. As she comes closer, the cloak she was wearing is more properly revealed to be in actuality a set of wings of shadow. A dark eyebrow arches as she regards MoGui. "You seem to have learned new tricks, little cousin." Her accent is vaguely arabic. She'll regard all the rest of the group in turn.

	"All of you here have come to help me save Orson's soul?" the nagaraja turned wraith asks hopefully.

	Everyone (except for poor Mo!) will feel a disturbance in the force. Not especially threatening just yet, but there. A steady incessant feeling of unease.

	Alzbeta makes like she's checking a watch, but actually has no watch. "Can someone set a time for four minutes and fifty seconds from now, so we're not totally surprised when /it/ happens?"

	Mo looks over towards Fatima. "FATIMA!!!" The youth runs over towards the wraith, recklessly, without a care in the world, and then gives her an embrace one might give a long lost friend returned from the dead. "I thought you were dead," he murmurs, burying his face into her shoulder.

Tian doesn't seem to have a watch, just a stick.

	Mr. Fu returns to ground, muttering. "She IS dead, Thomas. Well. More dead than before, at any rate." The little dragon then gives the wraith a nod of greeting before heading over towards Kaati and Ying Yue.

	Kaati looks decidedly worried, as she eyes Fatima. "You're the guide, then?" she says, wariness in every line.
Tian bows his head to Fatima, "Peace be with you."

	Fatima gives Mo a gentle hug, "We have to save him. Emma-O has him," he says softly, her voice barely a whisper. Then she looks over towards Kaati. "Into the black hell of Kyuden no Kakuri, yes. I ... escaped. And then he took Orson's phoenix soul in retribution."

	"Is it strange that I am getting more used to the dead being commonplace wherever I go?" Ying Yue states, her voice soft. She looks to the little dragon as he approaches.

	Mr. Fu looks up at Ying Yue, "The dead grow in number with each passing moment. And where we must go, Kakuri, also known as the Night Realm or Shikome Hell, is one of the Yin-aspected Thousand Hells. Full of the dead. A land without honor."

	Kaati glances over to the dragon. "Man. I *seriously* need to work on my Chinese mythology," she murmurs.

	Mr. Fu looks to Fatima, "You were to be shikome," he states matter of factly. "And Emma-o does not brook disappointment well. We should hurry. Maybe the fates will smile on us and have us cross paths with The Wanderer."

	Mo disengages from Fatima and then he makes his way over to Kaati. "Give me your hands."

Alzbeta whispers to Kaati before she gives Mo her hands, and then keeps an eye on the two of them.

Kaati almost draws back. Almost. Her expression is dark, but she reaches out and takes his hands, as instructed.

Tian watches on with interest.

	Mo summons his joss, willing his unnatural luck into his hands, and then forcing it to jump from his person into Kaati's. If she has Entropy, she'll feel the fateweaving take place, her role in the tapestry aligned /just so/. (OOC: -1 diff to all rolls for the rest of the story)

	Fatima watches with curiosity as Mo blesses Kaati, then smiles and comments softly. "The Captain would be proud, little cousin. Your magic has grown." But then she'll snarl and reveal a mouthful of sharp fangs before she spins around and raises her hands into the air in arcane gesturing. "SHIKOME!" she shouts. "PREPARE YOURSELVES! STEEL YOUR WILL!"

	Mr. Fu lifts his electric blue eyes up into the sky on the other side of the archway. "Shikome indeed. Let us go and meet them." Then the little dragon calmy drats through the arch, hoping that others will follow him.

===> Log ended by user <===> 2/9/2020, 10:39:00 PM <===